Dealing with Law Enforcement



SU Future

Basic
Joined
11.06.20
Messages
16
Reaction score
1
Points
1
Golden Rule: Ask for a lawyer immediately upon contact and say nothing

Do not fall for the law enforcement tricks. Nothing you say can help you. Law enforcement officers are not in a position to offer you a plea deal, only the prosecution is. Judges do not need to accept the plea bargain either. Law enforcement use various techniques to try and get a confession. They will try to minimize your behavior and make it seem wise to agree with them. This is a trick. An in depth guide to law enforcement interrogation techniques is not required, because all of their techniques can be countered by keeping your mouth shut and asking for a lawyer.
Contents

1 So LE knocked on my door and asked to talk to me. They say that they know I have been up to no good, and that it will be better for me if I talk to them. What should I do?
2 So it is looking like I am going to be doing a bid in prison, but I am being offered a deal if I turn states witness. Should I do this?
3 So I got pulled over, or got a knock on my door, and LE is requesting to search my house or car. What should I do?
4 So I got arrested and am being interrogated, what do I do? They say if I don't cooperate they are going to make things hell for me and put me in a holding cell with a bunch of gang members! But if I confess they will make things very easy for me.
5 If I ask a cop if they are a cop, they have to tell me right?
6 But what about smoking weed or using other drugs? Can they do this too?
7 But I am non-important / don't do anything wrong / am small time
8 When I talk online I like to say SWIM (someone who isn't me) instead of me or I. This keeps me safe right?

So LE knocked on my door and asked to talk to me. They say that they know I have been up to no good, and that it will be better for me if I talk to them. What should I do?

You should under no circumstances talk to LE. They are not your friends, although they may pretend to be. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. In fact, anything you say will be twisted to put you in the worst possible light. Even if you think you are saying something innocent, LE can twist it against you. So it is best to say absolutely nothing. Don't try to outsmart them in an interrogation, this is not a game, if they think you are the sort of person that sees things as a game they will try and make you feel smarter than them when they question you, but in reality they are just getting you to talk more. When questioned by LE, you should immediately request to talk to your lawyer, and nothing more. Everything you say to LE should be said through a lawyer, in all cases.

Additionally, remember that destruction of evidence is a crime in many places (like the United States). Turning your computer off is not destruction of evidence, even if you are using whole disc encryption (and thus having the computer turned off makes the data inaccessible to the investigators); hitting your computer with a hammer, shooting it with you gun, or throwing it into your swimming pool when you see the police walking to your door is destruction of evidence, and you could be sent to prison for it (even if you are found "not guilty" of the crime itself). You can face a destruction of evidence charge even if the investigators manage to recover the evidence you tried to destroy. If you have incriminating evidence on your hard drive, you should be using encryption, not relying on your ability to destroy your computer.
So it is looking like I am going to be doing a bid in prison, but I am being offered a deal if I turn states witness. Should I do this?

It is true that you can in some cases get reduced sentences by becoming a confidential informant. But would you rather spend five years in prison getting abused and spit on, possibly killed, or spend ten years in prison being left alone for the most part? Snitches are despised more than anyone else in prison, and some of the people you will be locked up with have nothing to lose. Guards are known to reveal information on inmates to other inmates, so don't think you are going to keep your snitch status secret. Even if you are kept in protective custody you will not be safe, when prison riots happen the first thing that happens is the inmates kill everyone in protective custody. In addition to putting your life in serious danger, snitching makes you a coward and a hypocrite. You will have to live every day of the rest of your life knowing that you are a coward who ruined the lives of others. Keep in mind that even if you take a deal to snitch, that has no legally binding power, your sentence is still up the the judge. Although the mandatory minimum is erased when you take a deal, you can still get the maximum sentence if the judge says so, even after you already snitched. This has been known to happen. Even if you get put in the witness protection program and given a new identity, people in witness protection can be traced. Snitching is never worth it and it is never the right thing to do. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time without snitching.
So I got pulled over, or got a knock on my door, and LE is requesting to search my house or car. What should I do?

Tell them no. Never consent to be searched or have your vehicle or house searched. Make them get a warrant. Even if you have nothing on you and your vehicle and house are clean, you should make them get a warrant. You don't want to make their job easier. If you don't consent to a search and they search anyways with no warrant then any evidence they gather can not be used in court. If you consent, they don't even need a warrant.
So I got arrested and am being interrogated, what do I do? They say if I don't cooperate they are going to make things hell for me and put me in a holding cell with a bunch of gang members! But if I confess they will make things very easy for me.

Ask for your lawyer. If they don't immediately stop questioning you, continue asking for your lawyer. You don't ever want to say anything to cops. Even if they put you in a holding cell full of gang members, it is probably better to be there for a day than to confess and get sent with the same gang members for ten years. Anyways, most gang members are unlikely to mess with you if you just keep to yourself and don't cause any trouble with them. Keep in mind: cops lie, feds lie, they want you to confess, confessing or giving any information up is going to hurt you it is under no circumstances going to ever help you.
If I ask a cop if they are a cop, they have to tell me right?

No, cops do not have to tell you they are cops, neither do feds. Undercovers lie all the time. So do confidential informants. Be careful who you trust, even friends you have known your entire life can turn.
But what about smoking weed or using other drugs? Can they do this too?

Undercovers can smoke weed, and I am sure they will have no issues using other drugs either. Someone using drugs does not mean that they are not a cop or fed. It also doesn't mean they are not a confidential informant.
But I am non-important / don't do anything wrong / am small time

Even if you do nothing wrong, most LE wants to screw you. The majority of them are not trying to protect and serve, but are trying to meet some alpha male requirement they subconsciously have. They feel important when they bring you down. Also, people tend to minimize what they do, so you are probably bigger than you would like to admit.
When I talk online I like to say SWIM (someone who isn't me) instead of me or I. This keeps me safe right?

No, this offers you no protection at all. People who say SWIM are just fooling themselves. People tend to like to have "security blanket security" where they convince themselves they are safe as long as they do some simple ritual (as opposed to taking actual security precautions, which are a bit more difficult). Security blanket security is dangerous, as it doesn't offer real security but makes you act as if you are secured.
 
Top Bottom